2025-12-29 09:59:44 by ambuda-bot
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vi
to bear in mind that the rhetoricians themselves have no-
where associated these citations with either the name of
Bhāsa, or with any one of the plays attributed to him.
There is on the other hand a large number of verses which
are specially mentioned as Bhāsa's in anthologies of
Sanskrit verses, but are not found in the present plays.
From the foregoing summary of arguments on both
sides, it will be seen that none of the arguments advanced
is absolutely convincing and, therefore, there have been
from the very first cautious critics who were sceptical about
the authenticity of the plays and held that these plays--at
least some of them-bear the evident marks of being
abridged versions of probably the original dramas of Bhāsa.
And vitally important considerations were recently
revealed in this connection by K. Rama Pisharoti (BSOS. 3.
112f. 3. 641) who has shown that 'these plays form a part of
the repertoire of the Cakyārs'-the traditional actors of
Kerala. He, further, adverts to the peculiar practice of the
Cakyārs viz., that they never act a drama in full, but only
selected scenes now from one drama, and now from another
and that for every act they stage, they have their set intro-
duction. It is, therefore, possible that the prologues of
the plays are later accretions, while the main scenes preserve
to us the original plays abridged or modelled in parts to suit
the exigencies of the local theatre; so that it is possible
that much of the relative uniformity of style, dramatic
method and formal technique may be the result of this local
editing; the plays may, therefore, be the product of a
class of play-wrights who belonged to one common school
and worked under its conventions. Secondly, it is not at all
clear that the Tss. Svapnavāsavadattam is the famous Svap-
navāsavadattam attributed to Bhāsa by Rajasekhara. There
to bear in mind that the rhetoricians themselves have no-
where associated these citations with either the name of
Bhāsa, or with any one of the plays attributed to him.
There is on the other hand a large number of verses which
are specially mentioned as Bhāsa's in anthologies of
Sanskrit verses, but are not found in the present plays.
From the foregoing summary of arguments on both
sides, it will be seen that none of the arguments advanced
is absolutely convincing and, therefore, there have been
from the very first cautious critics who were sceptical about
the authenticity of the plays and held that these plays--at
least some of them-bear the evident marks of being
abridged versions of probably the original dramas of Bhāsa.
And vitally important considerations were recently
revealed in this connection by K. Rama Pisharoti (BSOS. 3.
112f. 3. 641) who has shown that 'these plays form a part of
the repertoire of the Cakyārs'-the traditional actors of
Kerala. He, further, adverts to the peculiar practice of the
Cakyārs viz., that they never act a drama in full, but only
selected scenes now from one drama, and now from another
and that for every act they stage, they have their set intro-
duction. It is, therefore, possible that the prologues of
the plays are later accretions, while the main scenes preserve
to us the original plays abridged or modelled in parts to suit
the exigencies of the local theatre; so that it is possible
that much of the relative uniformity of style, dramatic
method and formal technique may be the result of this local
editing; the plays may, therefore, be the product of a
class of play-wrights who belonged to one common school
and worked under its conventions. Secondly, it is not at all
clear that the Tss. Svapnavāsavadattam is the famous Svap-
navāsavadattam attributed to Bhāsa by Rajasekhara. There